Argentina, one of the largest economies in Latin America, is set to default on its international debt before the end of this month. Unless the government can reach an agreement with its creditors to reduce or delay its payments, the default will be the country’s third in twenty years and by some counts its ninth overall.

If Argentina’s last two defaults are any indication to go by, this would result in economic turmoil and suffering equal to or worse than that endured by the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with runaway inflation, massive unemployment, and dangerous political upheavals. As the world slides into the economic downturn that is currently unfolding propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, this could prove catastrophic to the country and its recently elected center-left Peronist government, headed by President Alberto Fernandez.

Even before the pandemic and the government’s aggressive national shutdown, default was already on the cards. Finance Minister Martín Guzmán had begun negotiations to delay several different but overlapping sets of debt. These conversations reached a desperate point by April as it became apparent that effects of the pandemic combined with the existing inflation and investment crisis meant that the government would need to renegotiate their obligations. Now, several of these deadlines have already passed and the government is requesting extensions.